Reuters: Kenya Eyes Domestic Gas, Coal for New Power Plants

Kenya aims to decide by the end of 2015 whether a gas discovery in the north of the country could fuel a power plant and wants to start using its own coal in about six years' time for a power station being built, a senior energy official said.

Kenya, which has struggled to keep the country running with a creaking and overloaded system, is seeking to boost installed generation to about 6,700 megawatts (MW) by 2017 from around 2,500 MW now, using renewables and other domestic resources.

Among its plans, a contract for a 1,000-MW coal plant in Lamu on the north coast was awarded in 2014 to Kenya's Centum Investment and Gulf Energy. Initially running on South African coal, it will switch to Kenyan reserves in future.

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